Chameleon EMCOMM III HF Antenna Review

[bkt]

https://chameleonantenna.com/shop-here/ols/products/cha-emcomm-iii-portable
This antenna costs $145. Main element is 73' long, counterpoise is 25' long. I don't have mine as elevated as I'd like - it's maybe 30' up. I left my rig running last night on WSPR (5 watts) on 80 meters and here's the propagation report:

Conditions were OK, but not great. Usually, I also hit Australia, New Zealand, South America, Africa and Antarctica pretty routinely. Still, this isn't too bad.

This antenna is made to be portable and it comes with a wire winder to keep it neat. It's very lightweight. Insulated loops are attached to make stringing it up easy. I was able to get this set up in about 30 minutes by myself. Field set-up would be very easy, but I would probably recommend a short mast or tripod to support the feed-end.

SWR is 2:1 or less across all bands, but I still use my rig's tuner to bring it down even more.

 

[ssonb]

Did you have the antenna pointing North /south?

 

[bkt]

Did you have the antenna pointing North /south?

Good question. It's northeast/southwest.

 

[Bacpacker]

Guy I work with just bought him one of those. Paid a bunch more for it. Looks like it works well.

 

[ssonb]

I have a Buckminster 135' dipole but I have as of yet since my move to the mtns strung it up.
I kinda figger I needs to assemble the radio room soos I knows where one end of the antenner goes.

 

[kd4ulw]

I got one of the Emcomm III antennas and used it in the CQ-WW SSB contest this weekend. Worked nice and gave me 2 more bands than the R-7 vertical (though DX on 75 and 160 meters at 100 watts has its limits). I had it sloping at about 45° with the high end up about 60 feet. The neat thing was how much quieter it was over the vertical. Noise was down to S-0 much of the time.

Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Bacpacker]

I got one of the Emcomm III antennas and used it in the CQ-WW SSB contest this weekend. Worked nice and gave me 2 more bands than the R-7 vertical (though DX on 75 and 160 meters at 100 watts has its limits). I had it sloping at about 45° with the high end up about 60 feet. The neat thing was how much quieter it was over the vertical. Noise was down to S-0 much of the time.

Thanks for the recommendation!

View attachment 74760View attachment 74761

Good report.
Did you use any radials with it? How many? How long?

 

[kd4ulw]

@Bacpacker it comes with a 25 foot counterpoise wire that lays on the ground. I just staked it down behind the radiator. Very simple and my internal tuner handled it fine. I worked a few US stations on 160 meters, didn’t give me contact points but got multipliers for the zone. I was able to get a few DX on 75 and worked Europe, Hawaii and Australia on the higher bands with the wire. The solar cycle is back, 10 meters was quite active.

 

[Bacpacker]

Thanks KD